If you are running a business, you might have already heard about the ever-famous ransomware. What started out as a mere virus, has grown into a multi-million-dollar industry that is inflicting one business at a time. If you are curious to learn everything about ransomware, you have come to the right place. In this article, I am going to reveal everything from the different forms of ransomware and how you can be infected with it. So, without further ado, let’s carry on with the article and know everything there is to know about ransomware.
What is Ransomware?
First of all, you have to understand what ransomware malware is and to know that you have been infected with one. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts your files and renders them useless. The hacker demands an amount of money from you in order to get access to it. So, if you are infected with ransomware, a warning error will pop up, telling you about the breach in your security.
How Ransomware Infects a Computer?
There are several different ways that ransomware can get into your computer. One of the most common methods that hackers use to infect a network is by using phishing emails. The emails appear normal and safe from the outside, but it includes bobby-trapped attachments or links to malicious websites. This method is commonly known as social engineering, as the link or email is engineered to trick people.
Another common method, which reached its peak in 2016, is malvertising. In this method, online ads are used to distribute malware onto any computer that browses or clicks on the ad. All of this happens without the user’s knowledge, which is what makes ransomware such a deadly virus.
What to Do If You Get Infected With Ransomware?
Now that you know what ransomware is and how people get infected with it, let’s look at the step that you should take after being infected with ransomware and some ransomware removal tips and tricks that might come in handy. The first thing that is going to happen when you get infected with ransomware is that you are going to get a popup saying that you should pay a specific amount if you want to get access to your files. Regardless of how lucrative the offer might seem, you must never pay a dime to the hackers as you have no guarantee that he will give you full access to your files after paying the ransom.
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As soon as you realize that you have been infected, you should completely shut off the computer and disconnect its Wi-Fi ransomware that can spread to other computers in the same network via Wi-Fi. After making sure that you are completely disconnected, you should find the source of the virus and isolate that computer.
After isolating the entry point of the virus, you should completely wipe its hard drive and reimage it. That is the only way to make sure that the virus doesn’t stay on the machine. Now, to help you with this process, you can contact a professional service that will help you eliminate the virus and get your files back.
Finally, after making sure that the virus is completely wiped off from every device, you should install all the backups that you have saved so that you can continue doing your work. With the latest cloud backup services like AWS, not only can you store your backups over there, but you can also find out when and where the virus infected the system and backup your data from that point.
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